Constitutional Law

Top Bush Aides to Testify

The long stand-off between Karl Rove and House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) may be coming to a close.

Attorneys for the Obama administration, including White House counsel Gregory Craig, played a key role in brokering a deal between Conyers (below) and former Bush aides Rove and Harriet Miers. 'But in the end, it would appear, it was Bush's lawyers, represented mainly by former associate White House counsel Emmett Flood and his former boss, Fred Fielding, who made the most concessions,' wrote Newsweek's Michael Isikoff.

Under the agreement, lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee will receive immediate access to the bulk of those documents which they sought, and both Miers and Rove will be privately questioned by Committee attorneys as to their alleged roles in the firings of U.S. attorneys. Initially, that testimony will not be public or under oath, but the Committee may subsequently subpoena them for public, sworn testimony. House lawyers say that, whether under oath or not, the witnesses may still be criminally charged with making false statements to a congressional committee, should they lie.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, called the agreement 'good news,' saying that Rove had merely followed directives from President Bush on executive privilege.

'I have long said that I would see this matter through to the end and am encouraged that we have finally broken through the Bush administration's claims of absolute immunity,' Conyers said. 'This is a victory for the separation of powers and congressional oversight.'

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 05, 2009 (boomark / email).